Against a backdrop of widespread bloodshed and devastation in Gaza, a mounting body of evidence indicates military equipment used by Israel during Operation Protective Edge was made in the UK.

As violence wanes in the
besieged Palestinian enclave, scrutiny of UK arms exports to
Israel is amplifying. While Cairo peace talks between Israel and
Hamas bring a sense of reprieve to Gaza’s rubble-laden streets,
damning evidence indicates Israel used UK military wares during
Operation Protective Edge. UK government statements, photographic
evidence, IDF commanders’ recent praise of drones deployed in
Gaza, and Israel’s purchasing patterns of foreign military
equipment all appear to indicate this is the case.

Britain’s arms trade relations with Israel are extremely
lucrative. Since 2010, British authorities have presided over the
sale of £42 million worth of military produce to the Middle
Eastern state. On an annual basis, the British government grants
up to £15 million worth of licenses to UK defense firms for the
export of military equipment to Israel. These figures stem from
in-depth research conducted by the Campaign Against the Arms
Trade (CAAT), a London-based NGO dedicated to tackling the global
arms industry’s impact on human rights.

Approximately 44 defense companies spanning Scotland, England,
Wales and Northern Ireland broker UK arms exports to Israel,
according to the CAAT. Four such firms are Raytheon, Schleifring
Systems, Selex Galileo, and UAV Engines. Each of these defense
factories epitomize an acutely profitable yet contentious set of
military trade relations between Britain and Israel. And amidst
nationwide concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, there is
strong reason to surmise drone engines, bomb components and other
parts produced by these firms were deployed by the IDF during its
recent military attacks on the region.

Raytheon

Israeli bombs responsible for bloodshed in Gaza are comprised of
laser-guidance systems manufactured in Scotland, the Daily Record
revealed last week. This laser-guidance technology is produced in
a factory in Fife, the parent company of which is a
US-headquartered arms manufacturer called Raytheon.

Raytheon have reportedly claimed in the past they “take a
dumb bomb and make it into a smart bomb.” But this
“smart” technology harbors the capacity to unleash
profound destruction. One of the firm’s laser-guided Paveway II
bombs was photographed in late July as it descended onto a Gazan
neighborhood, reaping devastation upon its impact.

The airstrike was part of Israel’s military assault on Gaza,
which began on July 8 and has culminated in the death of almost
2,000 Palestinians. Israel, by contrast, has lost 64 soldiers
during the conflict and three civilians. Paveway II bombs have
been extensively deployed since the IDF's Gaza offensive began,
reducing hospitals, homes, schools and even UN-refuges to dust
and rubble. Palestinian officials recently reported that over
50,000 of these deadly devices have fallen on the besieged Gaza
Strip since July 8.

Raytheon’s manufacture of the Paveway II bomb is a niche sector,
with only one other arms company in the world producing this
equipment. The firm is also one of Israel’s biggest suppliers of
military equipment.

Asked whether Scotland-made technology was deployed in bombs
recently dropped over Gaza, a spokesperson for the Scottish
branch of Raytheon said: “Our Glenrothes facility does
component work for a wide range of our government and commercial
solutions.”

Selex Galileo & Schleifring Systems Ltd

The Scottish wing of Italian arms firm, Selex Galieo, has
recently been marketing hi-tech Gabbiano technology installed in
Israel’s Hermes drones. These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
have been regularly deployed to orchestrate attacks on Gaza, and
are described by the Israeli Air Force as the foundation of
Israel’s targeting and surveillance missions. IDF commanders have
reportedly praised Hermes UAVs for delivering increased operative
value in Israel’s recent military missions in Gaza.

Selex, a subsidiary of Rome-based arms giant Finmeccanica,
maintains it only sells products to foreign states that comply
with UK government export regulations. Under these regulations,
the UK cannot issue arms export licenses if related military
wares are being deployed by states for internal oppression. But
the Gabbiano technology Selex produces for Israel’s 450 Hermes
drones is classed as an Italian arms product, and so is bound by
Italy’s export legislation.

The insidious cross-border structure of arms firms like
Finmeccanica illustrate the degree of policy-related rigor needed
to address loopholes and other legislative inflections, which
often prove beneficial for global defense firms. Selex has
profited directly from the Gaza conflict, and will continue to do
so if the ceasefire is terminated.

A UK branch of German military arms firm, Schleifring Systems
Ltd, is also potentially implicated in bloodshed and destruction
wrought by Israel’s Operation Protective Edge. The firm
manufactures slip rings, which transmit power and electrical
signals employed in multiple military systems. Based in
Berkshire, the UK company’s products are used in drones, missile
launchers, armored vehicles and more. In terms of arming Israel,
Schleifring Systems Ltd also produces components for the
controversial Hermes drone.

UAV Engines

UAV Engines, a UK subsidiary of Israel’s most prolific drone
producer Elbit Systems Ltd, was recently occupied and shut down
for two days by nine British activists. The action was carried
out on behalf of UK campaign group, London Palestine Action, in
protest against the arms factory’s alleged complicity in Israel’s
recent military attacks on Gaza.

Elbit Systems produces electronic military communications
technology and unmanned aircraft technology - including the
Hermes drone. Its UK subsidiary, UAV Engines, manufactured
engines for Hermes UAVs and other military components that were
sold to Israel between 2010 and 2012.

Andrew Smith, a well-known commentator on Britain’s arms trade
and official spokesperson for CAAT, emphasizes Israel tends to
utilize the same arms producers year in year out. So it’s not
unreasonable to deduce that UAV Engines, which applied to export
their military wares to Israel between 2010 and 2012, would also
have sought licenses to do so in 2013 and beyond.

Bearing these factors in mind, there is a strong possibility that
engines and military components manufactured in Britain by UAV
Engines were deployed by IDF drones in Israel’s Operation
Protective Edge.

Having clambered their way on to UAV Engines’ roof on August 5,
the London Palestine Action anti-arms activists used a megaphone
to publicly declare the IDF's recent atrocities in Gaza to
onlookers. Thirty six hours into the occupation, police scaled
the building and forced the campaigners to return to ground level
where they were subsequently arrested for aggravated trespassing.

Following the arrests,
London Palestine Action warned the UK government was directly
supporting“Israel’s
massacres”in Gaza
by allowing UAV Engines to export“drone components and other arms to
Israel”.The
campaign group argued that Israel’s recent military assault on
Palestinian civilians, and“indiscriminate”targeting of UN schools would not
have been possible without extensive military cooperation with an
array of states and companies throughout the world. UAV Engines
is the most prolific case of this“vast military cooperation taking
place between the UK and Israel,”the group emphasized.

Hollow rhetoric

UK weapons have been deployed by Israel in previous Gaza attacks.
This fact was accepted by the then-Foreign Secretary, David
Miliband, in an official statement in 2009. Yet little has
changed since then. The UK has licensed roughly £50 million worth
of arms exports to Israel over the past five years.

In the wake of the IDF’s recent Gaza attacks, high profile
politicians from all sides of Britain’s political spectrum have
publicly pleaded with the UK government to rethink its policy of
exporting arms to Israel. Foreign office minister, Baroness
Sayeeda Warsi, recently tendered her resignation over the
government’s “morally indefensible” position on Gaza,
while Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, repeatedly demanded arms
exports to Israel be suspended. UK NGOs War on Want and Amnesty
International UK have also called for Britain to terminate all
arms exports to Israel.

Israel’s recent bombardment of the Gaza Strip included
indiscriminate targeting of multiple hospitals, children playing
on a beach, ambulances, schools, clinics, mosques, press
buildings and countless Palestinian homes.

For weeks the UK government reviewed existing export licenses to
Israel. Over the duration of this “review,” however,
over 1,500 Palestinians civilians died as a result of IDF
military aggression. On August 12, the UK government finally
announced the findings of its probe into UK arms export licenses.
Liberal Democrat MP, Vince Cable, admitted twelve UK licenses may
have facilitated the export of military arsenal that could have
been deployed in Operation Protective Edge. Such export
agreements relate to components for “combat
aircraft”,“military radar systems” and
“tanks,” he said.

But the government has made no concrete promise to suspend these
licenses. Such a move would only occur if “significant
hostilities” resume following the termination of Israel and
Hamas’ ceasefire, Cable stipulated. Amnesty International UK arms
expert, Oliver Sprague, argued on Wednesday that Cable’s
announcement marked a troubling weakening of Britain’s existing
regulations “designed to prevent UK arms fueling war crimes
and serious human rights abuses.”

"Rather than give the benefit of the doubt to the victims of
indiscriminate bombing, it allows the arms exporters to pretty
much continue business as usual,” he warned.

“The response from the government has been extremely
weak,” Andrew Smith told RT on Friday. “Short term
suspensions do not go far enough. We want to see a total embargo
on arms sales to Israel and the revoking of all current
licenses.”

Allegations of
complicity in Israel’s Operation Protective edge extend beyond
government officials and defense firms. Financial institutions
such as Barclays have also come under fire. The bank has been
denounced by UK anti-arms campaigners for its investment in Elbit
Systems, Lockheed Martin and Textron - three prolific global arms
companies that manufacture military arsenal allegedly deployed in
Israel’s Operation Protective Edge.

In the wake of the Gaza
conflict, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and several
high profile United Nations (UN) officials have denounced both
Israel and Hamas for violating international law. In light of
this, the UN Human Rights Council have appointed a three-member
panel to investigate potential war crimes, which occurred during
the conflict.

‘Business as usual’

Despite the terrible human cost of the Gaza conflict, Israel’s
military assault on the Palestinian enclave has bred considerable
financial rewards for the global arms trade. One firm to profit
directly from the IDF’s Gaza offensive is Elbit. According to the
Electronic Intifada – a non-profit digital platform, which hosts
news and analysis from a Palestinian perspective – Elbit’s US
share price increased by 6.1 percent three weeks into Israel’s
Operation Protective Edge. Whether Elbit’s UK subsidiary, UAV
Engines, has profited as a result of the military operation
remains unclear, though there is a strong likelihood it has.

Britain’s military industrial relations with Israel span decades,
and are enshrined by a strategic alliance born of a cultural
affiliation, economic ties and self-interest. This special
relationship is accentuated by the UK government’s annual
investment of millions in battle-tested arms from Israeli firms.
One collaborative field in this context is drone technology. The
UK’s Ministry of Defence [MOD] is currently working with Elbit
Systems on a lucrative one billion pound Watchkeeper program to
develop drones modeled on Hermes unmanned aerial vehicles.

Critics argue that the MOD’s collaboration with Elbit in this
regard signals complicity in Israeli acts of military aggression.
In the height of the IDF’s military assault on Gaza, UK MP John
McDonnell, wrote a sharply worded letter to Foreign Secretary,
Philip Hammond, condemning Britain’s close military and economic
ties with Israel; a state he emphasized had flouted “more UN
resolutions that any other country in the region.”

“Given the expansive range of military equipment the UK has
sold to Israel in recent years our government has in all
likelihood supplied the weapons or components,” which were
used to “slaughter innocent civilians on the Gaza
Strip”, McDonnell said.

Arms companies have long profited from an intimate relationship
with the British Government, giving them considerable leverage
over UK policy-making, according to CAAT. The campaign argue that
the arms industry’s capacity to wield influence over former civil
servants and UK ministers, lobbying companies, the MoD, and
Britain’s wider trade and investment sector ensures political and
financial support from successive British governments remains
steadfast.

High court challenge

Following its recent
review of UK arms export licenses currently in place, the
government stated none would be suspended or revoked unless the
current Israel-Hamas ceasefire is broken. This policy stance was
maintained despite the fact twelve UK licenses were identified,
which legitimize the sale of components that may have been
deployed in violation of international law.

As a result, 131 arms export licenses worth almost £42m, which
legitimize British arms manufacturers’ export of military
components and military communications technology to Israel
currently remain intact. In light of this, UK law firm Leigh Day
issued a formal letter to Vince Cable on Friday on behalf of CAAT
warning the UK government’s failure to immediately suspend
current arms export licenses to Israel is unlawful given the risk
these military wares may be deployed in Gaza. The firm warned it
has been instructed to seek a judicial review if the government
refuses to suspend the export of such components.

Because the government have failed to clarify precisely what
might constitute a “broken” ceasefire, CAAT is concerned
that arms made in Britain may continue to be deployed in severe
breaches of international human rights and international
humanitarian law.